Friday, April 24, 2009

The miracle pill that is driving me crazy

It's 1:30 am and I am wide awake. SUCKS.

What feels like a million years ago when I was 19 years old and returning home from my first semester at BYU, I went to an allergist for the first time. I had just spent the majority of the school year sick with a head cold. We're talking nearly every single day of college I was sick. So I went to an allergist back home in Virginia for a diagnosis. I will never forget the first words she said, "Well, you'll want to avoid ever living in the Rocky Mountain West." She then went on to explain that I was allergic to pretty much everything that grows in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. She had no idea that at the time I was attending college in Utah. She also mentioned that I had your typical mold, dust, and pollen allergies, which was also not good seeing as I lived in my parents' basement (a veritable harbinger of mold and dust). So I started allergy shots, but when I left for school again I never kept up with them. Living in VA all I ever needed was Claritin or something similar, and I could get by.

Not so much in Utah.

Holy Hannah! Here I stay on a regular course of Claritin or Zyrtec, and still have massive flare-ups every time the season changes. This week has been one of the worst weeks I've ever had. We went from 6 inches of snow last week, to everything blooming and 80 degree sunny days this week. Which for me is a bomb waiting to go off! Massive congestion, sore throat, swollen, itchy, puffy eyes, coughing, sneezing, and exhaustion. You name it, I had it this week. I also had every cold medicine under the sun.

Dayquil? Nothing. Nyquil? Well, I did sleep for 30 minutes until my stuffy nose woke me back up. Claritin-D? I have no idea if it was working. Alka Seltzer cold? Totally failed me. My rescue inhaler? Worked for a few minutes. Finally I went back and got Mucinex-D. And hallelujah, we had progress. A few doses of that and I was breathing through my nose, my throat didn't hurt, and I could walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing. Oh, and a 4 hour nap helped things tremendously as well.

You only take Mucinex-D every 12 hours. At about 9 hours in I was getting congested again, so I looked back at the box to see if I could take another drug to add to the decongesting process. That was when I found out that you are supposed to take TWO pills, not just 1! I gladly took another dose of the Mucinex, and felt better soon.

And that, people, is why I am wide awake. The stinking Mucinex, for all its wonderful qualities, also wakes me up. I have a conference call I am supposed to be on in 6 hours. That will last roughly 3 hours. And then I will have just enough time to wrap up a few loose ends at work, and then rush to the airport, fly to Reno, and get on with a very busy weekend. I do not have time to NOT BE SLEEPING! Instead, here I sit, at nearly 2 am, watching my tivo'd shows, and thinking I don't have enough friends who are up at 2 am.

(Oh and for those of you wondering why I don't get allergy shots now- I probably will go get them again once I have health insurance again.)

I randomly got some yucky allergies a few years ago, for the first time ever, and I've lived in Utah my whole life! It was most annoying.

If you're into homeopathic/natural remedies, I recommend getting something called "Rocky Mountain Mix" at Good Earth. It's a tincture--you put ten drops under your tongue and hold them there for a few seconds. It worked pretty well for me, and it's not too expensive. It's worth a try, anyway! I hope you feel better soon--allergies DO suck.

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Equal parts Mother Teresa, Carrie Bradshaw, Mary Poppins, and Anne Shirley! (A do-gooder, a writer, goes where the wind takes her, and is full of scope for the imagination! And they were all single women!)

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